While export campaigns total more than 30 ships, not all
are expected to result in sales, Commodore Steve Braham, who
leads U.K. export efforts for the vessel, said today. He
wouldn’t name potential buyers.

The U.K. government made an effort to lure customers for
the ship by opting for a modular, lower-cost design after
exports of other programs faltered because of price. The Type 26
is to replace Type 23 frigates in Royal Navy service, starting
in 2023.

Finalizing exports may still be several years off, with the
U.K. government not formally committing to buying its 13 Type
26s until mid-decade, Braham said. “This is a long game, but
one worth playing,” he said in an interview at the DSEI defense
conference in London.

The U.K. also is promoting exports of equipment being used
to upgrade Type 23 ships that would later be reused on the Type
26, including a BAE Systems surveillance radar, a Thales SA (HO)
electronic monitoring system and an air-defense missile being
developed by the MBDA European missile joint venture. Braham
said these generate more export opportunities than the Type 26
ship, with the first for the Sea Ceptor missile system likely to
come to fruition soon.

Partnership Deals

Production of Type 26s for foreign buyers would presumably
take place overseas, either under a partnership arrangement
between BAE Systems and a shipyard in the buying country or
through a licensing pact, he said.

In addition to the general-purpose and anti-ship warfare
versions, at least one export buyer is considering an air-defense variant of the Type 26 that isn’t in the U.K. plan. In
the long term, such a ship could serve as a replacement for
Britain’s Type 45 destroyers, Braham said.

BAE Systems is in the process of selecting many of the
suppliers for the Type 26 ship ahead of the start of detailed
design efforts next year, said Geoff Searle, the company’s
program director. Ship building would start in 2016.